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Overview

Storytelling is an essential aspect of any legal case. But what kinds of stories win cases, and why? Criminal Conversations explores sentimentality as both a literary genre and a rhetorical strategy in the novels and courtrooms of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America. By focusing on "criminal conversation"--the civil tort whereby a cuckold sues his wife's lover to for damages to his property rights from the adultery--Korobkin argues that literary discourse, used in the courtroom, affects the outcomes of legal cases. She shows how lawyers used sentimentality strategically to guide juries in reaching verdicts, and how appellate courts appropriated the rhetoric, plots, and characters of sentimental fiction to redefine husbands' and wives' marital obligations.Criminal Conversations begins by tracking the legal fictions that were part of the civil tort of adultery from its origins in the English Renaissance. Korobkin then examines in detail the final arguments at Henry Ward Beecher's sensational criminal conversation trial of 1874-1875. The final part of the book takes up a series of appellate decisions that decided whether women could bring criminal conversation cases against their husbands' female lovers. Drawing on court documents, as well as literary examples from E.D.E.N. Southworth, Mark Twain, T. S. Arthur, and others, Korobkin explores the intersections of gender, genre, law, and story, revealing the ways in which the courtroom became a site of empowerment for women around the turn of the century. A major contribution to our understanding of the legal power of literary stories and styles, Criminal Conversations willbe of interest to students of law, literature, rhetoric, and women's studies.

What People Are Saying

Sarcan Bercovitch

Martha Minow

An instructive, provocative and engaging work that grounds the field of law and literature firmly in textured stories, lived, told and ordered.

— Martha Minow, Harvard University

Sacvan Bercovitch

This book is a landmark contribution to literary and cultural studies.... a powerful and original perspective both on the legal mechanisms of American Victorian society and on the profession of letters during this period.... I predict [it] will have a strong impact on the entire field of American studies.

— Sacvan Bercovitch, Harvard University

Nancy Armstrong

What could be more timely in this age of legal spectacle than an historical study of the narrative performance, or sentimental conversation, that has been part and parcel of the American system of justice for almost two centuries? Korobkin's book deftly brings that tradition to bear on sentimental fiction and vise versa, illuminating the difficulty of a sustaining and sustainable feminism in a culture where victims have always had such a powerful rhetorical edge.

— Nancy Armstrong, Brown University

Nancy Glazener

A fascinating study, equally sensitive to the precise turnings of legal history and to the nuances of narrativity.

— Nancy Glazener, author of Reading for Realism: The History of a U.S. Literary Institution, 1850-1910

Martha Minow

An instructive, provocative and engaging work that grounds the field of law and literature firmly in textured stories, lived, told and ordered.

Sacvan Bercovitch

This book is a landmark contribution to literary and cultural studies.... a powerful and original perspective both on the legal mechanisms of American Victorian society and on the profession of letters during this period.... I predict [it] will have a strong impact on the entire field of American studies.

Nancy Armstrong

What could be more timely in this age of legal spectacle than an historical study of the narrative performance, or sentimental conversation, that has been part and parcel of the American system of justice for almost two centuries? Korobkin's book deftly brings that tradition to bear on sentimental fiction and vise versa, illuminating the difficulty of a sustaining and sustainable feminism in a culture where victims have always had such a powerful rhetorical edge.

Nancy Glazener

A fascinating study, equally sensitive to the precise turnings of legal history and to the nuances of narrativity.

Editorial Reviews

Martha Minow

An instructive, provocative and engaging work that grounds the field of law and literature firmly in textured stories, lived, told and ordered.

Sacvan Bercovitch

This book is a landmark contribution to literary and cultural studies. . . . a powerful and original perspective both on the legal mechanisms of American Victorian society and on the profession of letters during this period. . . . I predict [it] will have a strong impact on the entire field of American studies.

Nancy Armstrong

What could be more timely in this age of legal spectacle than an historical study of the narrative performance, or sentimental conversation, that has been part and parcel of the American system of justice for almost two centuries? Korobkin´s book deftly brings that tradition to bear on sentimental fiction and vise versa, illuminating the difficulty of a sustaining and sustainable feminism in a culture where victims have always had such a powerful rhetorical edge.

Nancy Glazener

A fascinating study, equally sensitive to the precise turnings of legal history and to the nuances of narrativity.

E. Nettels

College English

In the course of this interesting mix of methodologies and historical time periods, Korobkin makes fascinating suggestions about the impacts of women's sentimental (domestic fiction on popular and legal rhetoric of the time.

Booknews

Focuses on cases of adultery in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in America, looking at how women operated as subjects in American law, how gender-inflicted literary logic controlled cases' outcome, and whether and to what extent American courtrooms became sites of empowerment for women during this period. Part I provides historical background, Part II details a case from 1875, and Part III examines state appellate court decisions on whether women could be plaintiffs in criminal conversation and in alienation of affection cases. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Choice
- E. Nettels

Recommended... for its impressive clarity, incisive analysis, mastery of sources, and timeliness.

Choice

Recommended... for its impressive clarity, incisive analysis, mastery of sources, and timeliness.

— E. Nettels, College of William and Mary

College English

In the course of this interesting mix of methodologies and historical time periods, Korobkin makes fascinating suggestions about the impacts of women's sentimental (domestic) fiction on popular and legal rhetoric of the time.

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